Legal answering service for law firms, lawyers and attorneys
A legal answering service picks up a law firm's calls when nobody at the firm can, takes intake details from potential new clients, and passes urgent matters to the attorney on call. Live legal answering costs about $189 to $395 a month for 25 intake calls and $479 to $1,725 for 75 on the vendors' published plans, because most bill per receptionist minute and legal calls run long. Phoner answers every call with your greeting for a flat $17 per user per month on Team, sends new clients, existing clients and urgent matters to different people, and turns every message into text.
Someone who needs a lawyer this week rarely calls only one. The firm that answers, sounds organized and calls back first usually gets the consultation. Most firms do not need a stranger reading a script on every call. They need new-client calls caught fast, existing clients routed to the right paralegal, and the rare emergency put in front of an attorney tonight.
NEW CLIENTS, EXISTING CLIENTS AND URGENT MATTERS ROUTED APART ON TEAM, $17/USER/MO · MESSAGES AS TEXT · NO PER-MINUTE METER
01 · Pick your number
02 · Your phone menu
03 · Incoming call
Press a key to answer the menu yourself
Voicemail to text
transcribed · texted to you · 0:42
Call sheet
Today
Request this number today. It is usually assigned the same business day.
Recording consent laws vary by state and country. You are responsible for lawful use.
$14.40
What one intake call costs on Answering Legal's Solo plan ($360 for 100 minutes) at the four-minute average call time the company itself publishes
$10
Smith.ai's live receptionist price per call on its 30-call Starter plan, whatever the call length, and spam calls are not billed
4 min
Answering Legal's own average call time. Legal calls run long, so a 100-minute plan covers about 25 intakes, not the 40 a general service plans for
$51
Per month for three users on Phoner Team billed yearly, with intake routing, an urgent option and voicemail to text, at any call volume
What a law firm needs from the phones while attorneys are in court
01
New-client calls never sit behind existing matters
Your greeting sends potential new clients to one option and existing clients to another. The intake option rings whoever handles consultations first, and if nobody picks up, the caller leaves details that arrive as a transcript with the number, ready for a callback within the hour.
02
Existing clients reach their paralegal, not the front desk
A client asking about a filing date or a document goes straight to the team on the matter. The attorney is not pulled out of a deposition for a status question, and the client still talks to someone who knows the file.
03
The true emergency reaches an attorney tonight
For a criminal defense or family practice, one option for an arrest or an emergency hearing rings the on-call attorney's phone, then a backup. Everything that can wait goes to voicemail as text, so nobody is woken for a billing question.
04
One firm number that outlives any associate
The number on your website, letterhead and bar listing rings the office and the app on each attorney's phone. Clients never get a personal cell, and the number stays with the firm when someone leaves.
How to set up law firm call answering in about 20 minutes
Set office hours and an on-call group
Enter the hours the front desk is staffed. Create a ring group for intake and another called on-call with this week's attorney first and a backup second. When the rotation changes, change who sits first. The published number never changes.
Record a greeting that sorts callers in one sentence each
Say the firm name. Then: if you are a new client looking for help with a legal matter, press 1. If you are a current client, press 2. If someone has just been arrested or you have an emergency hearing, press 3. Keep it short; callers hang up on long menus.
Decide where each option goes after hours
Option 1 can ring an intake coordinator by day and forward to a live answering service at night, so new clients still reach a person. Option 2 goes to the paralegal team's voicemail as text. Option 3 rings the on-call attorney around the clock.
Add a recording notice if you record, then test
If you record calls, say so in the greeting, because eleven states require every party to consent. Then call from a personal cell after hours, press each option and confirm the right phone rings and the transcript lands in the inbox.
Legal answering prices in the vendors' own words
Answering Legal sells only to law firms, Smith.ai lists Clio among its integrations, and both publish the numbers that decide a firm's bill. These come from their own pages and from the ABA model rule every firm answers to.
4 minutes
Is the average call time Answering Legal uses for its own cost calculator. Its plans are $360 for 100 minutes, $676 for 200 and $936 for 300, every feature included, no setup fee, month to month, with an overage rate set in each client's agreement.
Per call
Is how Smith.ai bills its live receptionists: $300 for 30 calls, $810 for 90 and $2,100 for 300, with no charge for spam when calls pass caller ID, a free first CRM integration such as Clio, and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Source: Smith.ai, plans and pricing
Rule 1.6(c)
Of the ABA Model Rules says a lawyer shall make reasonable efforts to prevent the inadvertent or unauthorized disclosure of information relating to the representation of a client. That covers what an outside answering service hears and where its messages go.
Which law firm calls need a person tonight, by practice area
The split between calls that cannot wait and calls that can decides what you should buy. A firm whose urgent calls are rare and whose new clients accept a fast callback does not need a receptionist on every call.
| Practice area | Calls that cannot wait | Calls that can wait until morning | Where the urgent ones should go |
|---|---|---|---|
| Criminal defense | A family member calling about an arrest, a client picked up on a warrant | Consultations on pending charges, court date questions | On-call attorney. New arrest calls are often the firm's best leads |
| Personal injury | Rarely urgent, but a new accident lead calls several firms the same day | Case status, medical records, settlement questions | Intake coordinator at once, or a live service that runs your intake script |
| Family law | Protective orders, emergency custody, a hearing tomorrow morning | New divorce consultations, document requests | On-call attorney for emergencies, intake for new matters |
| Immigration | A detained client or family member | Case status, filing questions, new consultations | On-call attorney, with a Spanish option if your callers need one |
| Estate planning and probate | Almost none | New wills and trusts, probate questions | Voicemail to text, callback the next business day |
| Business and real estate law | A closing on the day it happens | New engagements, contract reviews, billing | The attorney on the deal, everyone else to the inbox |
Swipe sideways for the full table
Which calls count as urgent is the firm's decision, and many firms set it differently by practice group · Nothing on this page is legal advice about your professional obligations
What a legal answering service costs at 25, 50 and 75 intake calls
The cheapest published plan, or plan plus overage, that covers each volume. Legal calls run longer than most, so we used Answering Legal's own published average of four minutes per call for every per-minute column. Smith.ai bills per call, so its column does not depend on call length. The Phoner column is Team billed yearly for three users and does not move.
| Intake calls a month | Answering Legal | Smith.ai live | Ruby | PATLive | Moneypenny live | AnswerConnect | Phoner Team |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 calls, about 100 minutes | $360 | $300 | $395 | $189 | $265 | $350 plus $49.99 setup | $51 |
| 50 calls, about 200 minutes | $676 | $530 | $720 | $349 | $422 | $350 plus $49.99 setup | $51 |
| 75 calls, about 300 minutes | $936 | $810 | $1,725 | $479 | $613 | $395 | $51 |
Swipe sideways for the full table
Answering Legal Solo 100 minutes, Essential 200 and Growing 300, read at the source October 20, 2026; its overage rate is set in each agreement and not published · Smith.ai human-first Starter 30 calls at $300 plus $11.50 a call and Basic 90 calls at $810, read October 20, 2026 · Ruby 100, 200 and 500 minute plans; Ruby does not publish an overage rate, so 300 minutes is priced on the 500-minute plan · PATLive 100, 200 and 300 minute plans, read October 14, 2026 · Moneypenny US live 100 and 200 minutes, with 100 overage minutes at $1.91 for the 300-minute row, read October 15, 2026 · AnswerConnect Entry 200 minutes and Growth 300 minutes from its plans and pricing guide · Taxes extra everywhere
When a law firm should pay for a live legal answering service
A routed firm line with voicemail to text covers many small practices. These are the cases where it does not, and where a live intake service earns its price.
You win the case by booking the consultation on the first call
A menu cannot run a conflict check or open your calendar and offer Thursday at 2. Personal injury and criminal defense firms whose callers sign with whoever books them first should pay for live intake on the new-client option.
Every intake must land in your practice management software
Phoner does not create intake records in Clio, MyCase or any other legal software. Answering Legal lists Clio, MyCase and LeadDocket integrations and Smith.ai connects Clio. If each call must become a lead record automatically, buy one of those.
Calls from jail need a person
Many jail phone systems ask whoever answers to press a key to accept the call, which a recorded greeting cannot do. A criminal defense firm that takes those calls needs a person on that line, whether a receptionist or the on-call attorney.
Your callers need Spanish on every call
A Spanish menu option helps, but a caller who speaks no English still needs a person who does. Answering Legal includes bilingual receptionists on every plan, and a firm with many Spanish-speaking callers should price that in.
Which firms run a routed line instead of a full service
Solo attorneys
New-client calls ring the attorney's cell between hearings, everything else arrives as text to read during a recess.
Law firm phone systemSmall litigation firms
Existing clients reach their paralegal, new matters reach intake, and the on-call option covers nights.
Law firm phone systemEstate planning and transactional practices
Few urgent calls and patient callers, so a menu and fast callbacks cover the month at a flat price.
Small business phone systemAccounting and tax practices next door
The same intake and existing-client split works for CPA firms in filing season.
Accounting firm phone systemHow to choose between a routed line and a live legal answering service
Pull last month's call log and sort every call into new client, existing client, urgent and everything else. In most small firms existing clients and vendors are the bulk, and none of those need a receptionist. An IVR phone menu that separates them, plus voicemail to text you can scan between hearings, handles that share for a flat price. If you record client calls, call recording works on Team, with a notice in the greeting.
New-client calls are where a live service pays, because a potential client who reaches voicemail often calls the next firm. Price those calls at legal call lengths, not at the 2.5 minutes general services plan with. Our Answering Legal pricing breakdown works out the cost per intake call on each plan, and the answering service cost page lists every published tier from the general services.
Many firms run both. Keep the number on a phone system the firm controls, let the menu answer every call, and use business call forwarding to send only the new-client option, or only after hours calls, to a live intake service. The live plan stays small because existing clients and vendors never reach it. For the firm's whole phone setup, see our best phone system for a small law office comparison.
Legal answering service questions law firms ask
A legal answering service answers a law firm's calls when the staff cannot, using receptionists trained on legal intake. They greet callers in the firm's name, take a potential client's details and type of matter, pass existing clients' messages to the right person and reach the on-call attorney for emergencies. Most bill per minute or per call.
A legal answering service costs about $189 to $395 a month for 25 intake calls and $479 to $1,725 for 75 on published plans, assuming four-minute calls. Answering Legal charges $360 to $936 for 100 to 300 minutes and Smith.ai $300 for 30 calls. A routed firm line on Phoner Team is $51 a month for three users at any volume.
For legal-only intake with bilingual receptionists included, Answering Legal is the specialist, from $360 for 100 minutes. For per-call billing that ignores long intakes and spam, Smith.ai starts at $300 for 30 calls. For the lowest published live price, PATLive is $189 for 100 minutes. If most calls can wait for a callback, a routed line costs $51.
Most law firms need every new-client call answered or returned quickly, because people looking for a lawyer usually call several firms. Whether that takes a live service depends on whether you win cases by booking the consultation on the first call. Many small firms route new clients to a person and send everything else to voicemail as text.
Reputable legal answering services train staff on confidentiality, but the firm stays responsible. ABA Model Rule 1.6(c) asks lawyers to make reasonable efforts to prevent unauthorized disclosure of client information, so ask any vendor where messages are stored, who can hear recordings and whether staff are in the US.
Yes. Answering Legal and Smith.ai both run custom intake scripts that capture the caller's name, contact details, type of matter and how they heard about the firm, and both connect to Clio. Phoner does not run intake: it greets the caller, routes the call and transcribes messages.
A virtual receptionist usually handles calls during the day as an extension of the front desk, transferring calls and booking consultations. An answering service is more often used after hours or for overflow, taking messages and intake details. Many legal vendors sell both under one plan and bill the same way.
An AI answering service can take basic intake details and answer every call at once, which helps with volume. It is weaker on upset callers, jail calls and conflict checks, and the firm still has to vet how it handles client information. Smith.ai's AI plans hand difficult calls to a live receptionist.
Yes. Phoner ports your existing local or toll-free number, so the number on your website, letterhead and bar listing keeps working. If you also use a live service, your phone system forwards that same number to it when you want, and you can change services without telling clients a new number.
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Answer every new-client call tonight, at a flat price
A business hours schedule, an intake option that reaches a person, an urgent option for the on-call attorney and every message as text. $17 per user per month on Team, the same in a busy month as in a quiet one.
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